Friday, 23 August 2013

Richard Clark, Kevin Dupe and myself saw plenty of Brimstone and various types of 'Underwings' on this mild, dry and relatively calm evening.

It was a far cry from the last visit to this location to record moths when the weather took a turn for the worst when storms blew up giving thunder and lightning and some heavy bursts of rain which made things very difficult indeed.

No such worries this time as very few clouds were around.

Below are pictures of just a few of the moths recorded. (In some cases 'flash' was used and this may not reflect actual colours).

Saturday, 17 August 2013

Thursday night produced 139 moths of 60 species of which 19 were Micro - I was pleased with this Micro catch as numbers have not been very good in the garden this year. Two of the Micro species are illustrated below, both being of "local" distribution in Gwent and new for year (NFY). There were several other NFY: Copper Underwing; Square-spot Rustic; Catoptria pinella; and, Bucculatrix ulmella. Others of interest included the 3rd Dusky Thorn of the year, Silver Y, Blood Vein (x2), Canary Shouldered Thorn, Diamond Back Moth, Rosy Rustic, Willow Beauty f. rebeli, Marbled Green and Black Arches.

Thursday, 8 August 2013

Nash 7th AugustI only ever catch Bulrush Wainscots if I put a trap next to lots of reedmace and as it is one of my favourite moths I did just that. I placed the new LED trap in a ditch that was only created 3 years ago, but is already half full of reedmace. I say created, but it was actually restored as there had been a ditch there previously, but the farmer had filled it in to create a bigger field.
The trap was half way down the ditch bank and was not visible from the field next to it, so I only expected to catch a few moths, but these would hopefully include bulrush wainscots.
The next morning, I went to check the trap. There were quite a few moths outside the trap - always a good sign, including a blood-vein, a sallow kitten, 3 canary shouldered thorns and a willow beauty. There were moths flying around inside the trap and as usual a few flew off as I took off the lid. I checked the 4 egg trays one by one and all together there were 136 moths of 35 species. They included: 7 silver-Y's, 4 southern wainscots, 38 common/lesser common rustics, 33 flame shoulders, 1 brown china-mark, 5 six-striped rustics, 1 gothic, a female oak eggar and a dark sword-grass. Of course it was the last tray that I checked that had 2 bulrush wainscots!

Redhouse Barns, Goldcliff 6th Aug

38 species came to an MV Robinson trap. 11 species were outside the trap - under the table it sits on and the wall of the barn which is approx 3m away. One of them was new to the reserve - a pretty chalk carpet. There were 2 magpies under the table and one in the trap. The species in the trap included 32 LBBYUW's, 42 common/lesser common rustics, 1 chocolate-tip, 1 dark sword-grass, 2 dog's-tooth, 4 blood-vein, 1 silver-Y, 1 straw underwing and 1 four-spotted footman.

Saturday, 3 August 2013

Uskmouth Reedbeds 1st August

I ran a new type of battery powered trap which uses special LED's which emit UV light. It uses much less power than a flouresent tube type of actinic trap and I had been told that the catches were far superior, but I was a bit sceptical.

In the morning I could see quite a few moths outside the trap including 5 drinkers and a mouse moth which I haven't seen for around 8 years. When I opened the trap I was a bit over-whelmed! There were hundreds of moths!

Goldcliff 1st August

I ran a Skinner type actinic trap on the edge of the saltmarsh and was rewarded with a catch of 41 moths of 15 species, including antler, small rufous, gold spot, ruby tiger (9), orange swift and saltern ear (5).

The ground shook, the sky lite up and the rain came down - perfect conditions to get the MV out and to venture forth to Black Rock for a further follow up visit! Despite the conditions, the gaps between the heavy downpours did offer the opportunity to catch some moths and the team (Kevin, Beth, Nick and myself), supported by several hungry bats, ended up with a semi-respectable catch - a total of 42 species, comprising 217 moths.

Welcome

This is the blog of the Monmouthshire Moth & Butterfly Group (MMBG) and is intended for anyone who has an interest in moths and butterflies in Monmouthshire (Gwent) - Vice County 35. If you would like to post your records on the blog please get in touch - see contact form below.

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